albany is where the heart is.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Let’s step into a fantasy world for a few seconds (and put aside our general distaste for excess) to dream about the “perfect meal.” I’m refraining from calling it a last meal because that’s morbid, but I guess it’s pretty much the same thing: if you had the opportunity to piece together your ideal feast from area restaurants, what would you choose?

Mine would be a bit of an extravaganza. I’m not even going to hold back here. Let’s do this:

An Amazing Pancake (or two) from Sake Café.

Iron Gate’s Veggie Club.

BBQ tofu fries from Bombers. And why the hell not, let’s throw in a margarita. Rocks, no salt. With a shot of Jameson on the side.

Now that I’ve started drinking, I may as well hit up DeJohn’s for their cucumber martini. While I’m there I will demand a bowl of their pineapple cream sauce (from the to-die-for mussels dish) and a loaf of crusty bread with which to soak it up.

OK now I’m starting to get nauseous (both in the real world and the fantasy world.) Let’s pop back to my place for an herbal digestif. Much better.

Dessert time: fruit tarts from Crisan.

Wow, I can’t even think about this any longer. It totally accomplished the opposite of what I was going for. I’m loopy and logey from food lust, and didn’t even get to Van’s or Empire Wok or Café Capriccio. Maybe next time. Someone please roll me back to reality and hand me a Tums. :P Ugh.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I’ve been experimenting with barbeque sauces lately, trying to find a perfect signature homemade formula (thus far, my “secret ingredient” is apricot jam. YUM.) Lots of sauce translates to lots of leftover barbeque chicken and tofu, which I am loathe to waste. I came up with this soup recipe as a way to use up chicken dinner leftovers (BBQ chicken, roasted sweet potatoes and sauteed kale) and was shocked to discover that curry and barbeque really complement each other. It was too good not to share, and obviously the possibilities are endless. I can see this with coconut milk and some roasted cashews. Omit the chicken and the sprinkle of parmesan and this is vegan and gluten free.

Heat olive oil in medium saucepan, add onions and sautee until translucent and soft. Add garlic, carrots, and a little salt. Let the carrots soften a bit. Toss in can of chick peas. I like to mash them a bit at this point so that the finished soup is thicker. Once the chick peas have a little color on them, add the stock and all of your leftovers. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes to marry flavors, then test spice level. I added some additional cumin and curry powder. Top with hot sauce and parmesan. I didn’t even need a slice of crusty bread with this – it was so hearty – but that couldn’t hurt!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Has anyone been watching this season of Work of Art on Bravo? There’s just…something about one of the contestants that makes my heart flutter. He calls himself, “The Sucklord.” This is hilarious on so many levels, most of all because the very serious gallery owners/art critics/industry luminaries that judge on the show have to refer to him as such. As in, “It’s time for your crit, Sucklord,” and, “Let’s talk about The Sucklord’s piece.”

YES. LET’S.

It was probably entirely intentional on Bravo’s part to begin the first episode with him looking like a bit of a douche. He works within the idiom of youth pop culture: action figures, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings references. It was kind of hard to get a read on him. He came across as a street-tough with an attitude problem, but we’re only a few shows into the season and already he’s melting into a big sugary puddle of awesome. At 42, he’s on the older side of the spectrum among the other contestants, but let me tell you: between his baby face and his ability to (literally) charm the tops off of the ladies on the show, you’d never guess it.

This week the artists were paired up with children and The Sucklord was instantly taken with his little charge. He actually got choked up talking about her and how he wanted to make her proud of him. This is not The Sucklord I assumed he would be! It just goes to show that you shouldn’t judge a sucklord by his cover. An important life lesson.

Unfortunately, my money is not on The Sucklord getting too far in the competition* unless he takes the judges' advice and gets out of his comfort zone, which seems to be the realm of the extremely literal. There are a lot of talented artists in this cast; a much more intriguing batch than last year, so he has his work cut out for him. But I’m pulling for The Sucklord personally, if not stylistically. I may not “get” what he’s trying to do, but he’s so darn cute while he does it that I don’t want him to go home.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Here's a video of my first foray into wedding singing! It was one of the loveliest wedding venues I've ever seen (The Saratoga Museum of Dance) and Chelsea and Nick are the sweetest. A delight all around.

A few days ago I was on the shuttle by myself and struck up a conversation with one of the regular drivers. We chatted about colony collapse disorder, the plight of small farmers and ecological sustainability. Then he told me a story from a documentary he’d seen. I don’t know the title or how faithful the story is to the film, but it made me smile so I’m going to tell you:

There was a man who was bogged down by the emotional weight of the world. He was troubled by crime and poverty, violence and despair. So he went on a spiritual journey to a remote monastery in search of some answers. At this monastery, the monks used a psychedelic substance because they thought it connected them with a“higher power.” They invited him to partake and he did, with the intention of trying to figure out how to fix the world’s problems. When he came down off of the drug, they asked him if he had uncovered a solution. He smiled and said, “There’s nothing to solve. Everything’s perfect just the way it is.”

I love that. Everything might seem doomed and out of control, but it’s not. It’s perfect. So, that’s the moral of the story. That and...listen to your bus driver. He might drop some crazy philosophy on you.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

I've been sick as a dog for the past few days and have spent an embarrassing amount of time channel-surfing. Apparently there are allllll sorts of crazy digital cable channels I didn't even know I had, like Fear Net which is all horror movies, all the time. Awesome. While wrapped up in a Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman marathon (don't judge me) I kept seeing infomercials for a piece of "art" called 'One Nation Under God.' At first I thought it was a joke, but sadly it is not. I'm not going to post a picture of it because this guy seems a little off his rocker, but you can check it out here:

The painting, itself, is as pedestrian as it gets, but I love the artist's response to criticisms. He seems awfully bitter and maybe not thick-skinned enough to be hawking his art on television?

For example (and this isn't even the best of it:)

"Great art causes one to feel. To feel deeply. I knew this painting would evoke emotion on both sides. (...) I don't care if the composition is outdated or whether some other artist may have painted their composition better than me."

Well aren't we defensive? Great art? I scoff, sir. Great art isn't set up by, "But wait...THERE'S MORE!" Great art isn't $19.95 plus shipping and handling. Try again.

I'm not even going to get into the fact that Satan is over there hanging out with the liberals. That's obviously true.